Ratan Tata invests in cloud-based telecom carrier Sabse Technologies

Ratan Tata has invested an undisclosed amount in Sabse Technologies, a Mumbai–based global Wi-Fi first carrier started by Hotmail founder Sabeer Bhatia and also the company behind Sabsebolo.

The Silicon Valley-based company, which operates Sabsebolo - the popular communications cloud platform for small and medium businesses - did not disclose details of the investment.

Subse will use the funds to expand its Wi-Fi first cellular service to customers worldwide.

"Ratan Tata is a visionary businessman and global thought leader, and we're delighted to have his guidance as we secure Sabse's position as a leading telecom carrier," Sabse CEO Sabeer Bhatia said.

Founded in 2008 by Sabeer Bhatia and Yogesh Patel, Sabse is known for building a scalable cloud communications platform, which provides developers with a robust infrastructure to develop voice and text applications. Its first product, Sabsebolo, is a cloud-based voice conferencing and fax-to-email service. It currently provides audio conferencing services to over 500,000 small businesses.

Apart from cloud telephony, video conferencing and desktop sharing platform, Sabse has several patents in the arena of call-control and switching of calls.

This is among 17 startups, mostly consumer-technology driven, and ranging across sectors, where Tata has made strategic investments over the past two years.

Tata, who served as chairman of Tata Sons for over two decades until his retirement in 2012, has also joined some venture capital funds as advisor, including Kalaari Capital and Jungle Ventures in the past year.

"What I look at while investing in startups is the quality and intelligence of the entrepreneurs," he had said after joining Kalaari in February this year.

Sabse president Yogesh Patel said that his expertise and insight will be "immensely helpful as Sabse expands its Wi-Fi first cellular service to consumers worldwide".

Some of Tata's other startup investments include Ola, Snapdeal, Paytm, Xaiomi, Holachef, Urban Ladder, CarDekho and most recently, Abra.